Example of a one-day sailing trip Saltsjöbaden to Saltsjöbaden You meet the crew onboard s/y Ichiban in Saltsjöbaden yacht marina, about 30 minutes by taxi or 45 minutes by the local train from the center of Stockholm. After the skipper has given you the safety instructions we leave the harbor and in 30 minutes the engine will stop and we are powered by the sails. You take part as much as you like or just relax enjoying the feeling of the huge yacht when she slides through the water passing picturesque islands. When we have sailed for a couple of hours the sails are furled away and we drop the anchor in a beautiful bay in shelter of an island, Stora Husarn. The chef now serves a tasty lunch on the aft deck. We pull up the anchor and continue our trip eastward touching the outer archipelago before we start aiming towards mainland. If we have a preferable wind direction we hoist the large gennacker, approximate 400 square meters. The three-course dinner will be served in another amazing natural harbor where the sea eagles fly across the sky while you drink your well-earned bear or glass of wine. After the dinner and when the sun is down we return to the marina and safely moor Ichiban again.
Day one Example of a two-day sailing trip Saltsjöbaden to Bytta lagoon You meet the crew onboard s/y Ichiban in Saltsjöbaden yacht marina, about 30 minutes by taxi or 45 minutes by the local train from the center of Stockholm. After the skipper has given you the safety instructions we leave the harbor and in 30 minutes the engine will stop and we are powered by the sails. You take part as much as you like or just relax enjoying the feeling of the huge yacht when she glides through the water passing picturesque islands. We sail towards the absolute outer archipelago where we will be by ourselves, anchored in a lagoon called Bytta, part of the small archipelago Boskapsön. The route means passing between islands and skerries with a distance of 20 meters, maneuvering the 45-ton yacht making 10 knots. We see the landscape changing as we sail further out in the archipelago and in the end when we make our way through the very narrow passage into Byttan the wind has shaped the trees and the rocks are smooth. Anchored and safe in the lagoon there will be time for using the kayaks to come even closer to the nature. There are a lot of small islands to which the kayaks are the only way to make your way. If you want to feel the warm rocks you use the RIB and take a hike on one of the islands. In the evening you have a BBQ on the island and the chef serves you a three-course dinner. Later you sit on the aft deck having your coffee with avec.
Day two Bytta lagoon to the center of Stockholm In the morning the swim ladder is there ready for early swimmers. The water is nice and there is absolutely no wind, the surface is like a mirror. In the yacht you can feel the smell of freshly baked bread soon ready to come out of the oven. After breakfast we sail north along the edge of the archipelago, maybe we see a curious seal watching us from a close distance. The wind is picking up and we are heading west entering Kanholmsfjärden, a huge area inside the archipelago where The Volvo Ocean Race had one of their inshore races last time they approached Sweden. On the west side of Kanholmsfjärden we find a lunch anchorage completely sheltered from wind. The chef has prepared a very tasty lunch and it is served on aft deck and together with a cool wine it finalizes a fantastic atmosphere, the islands, the sun, the shelter, the food and the wine. After lunch we continue west and soon we approach the small village Waxholm with its old castle that in the old time protected Stockholm from attacks from north. Next sight will be the contour of the highest buildings in the center of Stockholm, the City Hall where the Nobel dinner is served, the arena the Globe for concerts and the Old Town with houses several hundred years old. The grand finale of our trip will be when we sail all the way into the Old Town and you leave S/Y Ichiban on the stairs just in front of the Royal Castle.
Day one Three-day sailing trip Saltsjöbaden to Huvudskär You meet the crew onboard s/y Ichiban in Saltsjöbaden yacht marina, about 30 minutes by taxi or 45 minutes by the local train from the center of Stockholm. After the skipper has given you the safety instructions we leave the harbor and in 30 minutes the engine will stop and we are powered by the sails. You take part as much as like or just relax enjoying the feeling of the huge yacht when she glides through the water passing picturesque islands. The destination today is the small archipelago Huvudskär in the south-east corner of the Stockholm Archipelago. The group of islands were inhabited thousand years ago and in 1450 the first law was written on the island, concerning fishing. The light house was built during the 19 th century and today you can walk among the houses where the lighthouse staff lived. On the east side of the biggest island the rocks are indescribable, they must be explored. Overlooking the horizon from the island you know that the next stop is the Baltic States.
Day two Huvudskär to Stora Nassa Huvudskär is very protected even though it is situated in the end of the archipelago. The yacht is very steady during the night. If the weather permits we set sail and head for the open sea, looking at the chart you understand how difficult it was for a foreigh country to enter the archipelago without running on ground. There is a huge number of submerge rocks along the edge of the archeplago. We aim for the entrance through skerries that leads us to the sailing metropolis Sandhamn. This is the place if you are keen on racing with sail. It is from this small village that the Around Gotland race starts first Sunday in July every year with approximate three hundred yachts taking part. After a stop in Sandhamn where we got off the yacht and took a walk among the small houses in the old village we proceed towards our destination for today, Stora Nassa. Stora Nassa is an archipelago with 365 islands and it is one of 20 archipelagos in the Nassa area. This area is adventurous to enter due to very little seamarks and a lot of skerries. To sail in this area you have to be 100 % focused on the navigation and you cannot rely on the GPS. Our mooring for the night will be alongside a rocky island, an exciting way to moor that we inherited from the old sailing vessels trafficking the archipelago, supplying Stockholm with fish and wood.
Day three Stora Nassa to the Royal Castle in the center of Stockholm The area Nassa in Stockholm Archipelago is the former fishing fields belonging to the farms on the bigger islands closer to mainland. During periods of the year the farmers took their small sailing- and rowing boats to Nassa to fish, staying away from their families for weeks. Leaving Nassa sailing west we approach the bigger islands where the farms are, one of them is Möja which has a couple of small villages and an all year around society. We use the tall mast on Ichiban to catch the wind above islands to continue sailing even when the passages are very narrow. Coming closer to Stockholm we use the only passage that the big ferries visiting Stockholm can use, Oxdjupet. It is very narrow and tricky for the big ships to pass but for us it is a perfect sailing route. Hundreds of years ago the people in Stockholm filled the passage to guarantee that no one could pass and it stayed closed for more than hundred years. Next sight will be the contour of the highest buildings in the center of Stockholm, the City Hall where the Nobel dinner is served, the arena the Globe the arena for concerts and the Old Town with houses several hundred years old. The grand finale of our trip will be when we sail all the way into the Old Town and you will leave S/Y Ichiban on the stairs just in front of the Royal Castle.
Day one One-week sailing trip Mariehamn, Finland to Arholma in Sweden You fly into Mariehamn airport, easily reached from Arlanda or Kastrup, and half an hour later you are onboard S/Y Ichiban in the harbor of Mariehamn. We set off towards a natural harbor in the Åland Archipelago where lunch is served and we make plans for the crossing to Sweden. If the weather permits we might do the crossing the same day. Leaving Åland with a course for the light house on the Swedish side gives us around five hours at open sea. This means we have no land in sight for a couple of hours and we experience the feeling to sight land. An Ichiban beer is the prize to the crew member that first discovers the Swedish coast line. Entering the Stockholm Archipelago is an amazing experience, so many islands and so many skerries, the navigator must be focused on the task. Arholma Island is an old pilot place with some big farms, a shop and very nice walks. In the afternoon we book the wooden fired sauna with its mandatory dip in the sea. In the evening the three-course dinner is served in the oval saloon or on aft deck, it is up to you.
Day two Arholma to the lighthouse of Söderarm Leaving Arholma we set sails and head south through the archipelago and will soon cross the ferry lines. These lines are used by ferries that daily transport thousands of people between Sweden and Finland or Åland but it is also used by the five hundred cruising ships that visit Stockholm every season. The area we are approaching is a former navy area which was closed for all foreigners. There are still radars and other equipment that are watching out for unidentified vessels in the area but the military defence has been cut down. You can see leftovers from the period when all the area was guarded by the military. The light house Söderarm was built in 1839 and was in use until 1997. During most of the time there was a need for three persons to take turns to guarantee that the light was on. You can see the three houses in which they were living with their wives and children. The archipelago around the light house is perfect for kayaking with a lot of small islands that protect you from waves from the open sea. If you like fishing you take the RIB and find a good spot for it or you go to an island to make an excursion.
Day three The lighthouse of Söderarm to Rödlöga Archipelago Every morning onboard Ichiban you feel the smell of freshly baked bread. Our suggestion is you take a dip in the sea from the swim ladder and then hit the breakfast buffet. What can be better than freshly brewed coffee and hot bread in the sun? After a couple of days onboard you take part in all activities handling and sailing the yacht. The crew will be more than happy to instruct you whatever level of experience you start from. Today we hoist the big gennaker, approximate 400 square meters. It demands a teamwork to do the right things at the right timing. It is a great feeling when the wind fills the sail and the speed of the yacht increases. We make a lunch stop in the beautiful small archipelago named Norrpada. Söderarm, Norrpada and Rödlöga are small archipelagos consisting of around 250 islands. In between these archipelagos there are open areas but even though the water surface is unbroken there are a lot of submerge rocks and skerries. Norrpada is very beautiful and known for the secret society that has its meeting on one of the islands every third year. Our night harbor Rödlöga is one of the island that are populated all year around although situated far out in the archipelago. The people living in the archipelago must be life artists to survive. When you enter Rödlöga and its shop you feel the entrepreneur atmosphere.
Day four Rödlöga to Stora Nassa, lunch stop at Svenska Högarna There is a big area in the Stockholm Archipelago called Nassa. We stay overnight in the biggest archipelago included in that area, Stora Nassa. This group of islands consists of 365 islands and is an amazing place. This is a former fishing area associated to the farms on the inhabitant islands. We stop for lunch at Svenska Högarna which is the most easterly island in the Stockholm Archipelago. Approaching the light house you see from a distance the red tower built in the 19 th century. Using the RIB we go ashore and follow the very old path with its metal rail, helping people through the winter storms. We are soon at the door of the light house. The view from the top of the tower is fantastic. The anchor goes up, sails are set and the course is west, it is about 13 miles to the entrance of our night harbor. The route is very tricky and full of difficult maneuvers. The feeling of sailing in ten knots knowing that we need to be on top of the navigation as well as on top of handling the yacht is exciting. Our night space is an extraordinary place. We will moor to the rocks with only fenders and a piece of wood protecting the hull from banging into the hard stones. We need to have mooring lines in a special system to keeps us in the right position. When all ropes are set a cold beer is served to celebrate the teamwork that took us here.
Day five Stora Nassa to Sandhamn The night is to be spent in the hot spot for sailing, Sandhamn. This is a small village far out in the archipelago. There is an old hotel in the marina with a very strong character, you can feel that it has been there for a long time and that there have been a lot of yachts passing by. It is well worth the effort to take a two-hour walk around the island. The yearly big offshore race Around Gotland and back again starts in Sandhamn the first Sunday in July. More than three hundred yachts take part and before the start there is a big party in the harbor. From Stora Nassa to Sandhamn we are passing an open area in the archipelago where we have agreed on a rendezvous with an amphibious plane. The plane will find us by the threemeter tall Ichiban logo in our mainsail. The view from the plane is fantastic and after seeing all the submerge obstacle from above you realize how difficult it is to sail in this area.
Day six Sandhamn to Huvudskär From Sandhamn we sail due south following an old route where several hundred years ago the old sailing vessels transported their cargo. The best and fastest transportation method were on water using different kind of vessels. From the outer archipelago to the center of Stockholm they used rowing boats to deliver fish and wood, in between different countries in the Baltic a specially design Baltic trader was used. On the Finish side of the Baltic they used special ships for transporting wood which were built on the ice. The dates for launching these vessels were decided by nature making the ice melt, not by man. Today s destination is the small archipelago Huvudskär in the south east corner of the Stockholm Archipelago. The group of islands were inhabited thousand years ago and in 1450 the first law was written on the island, concerning fishing. The light house was built during the 19 th century and today you can walk among the houses where the lighthouse staff lived. On the east side of the biggest island the rocks are indescribable, they must be explored. Overlooking the horizon from the island you know that the next stop is the Baltic States.
Day seven Huvudskär to Nämdö Waking up in the archipelago is an extraordinary experience, the surface of the sea is often completely flat and can best be described as a mirror. To get up with the sun, grab a cup of coffee and just inhale the atmosphere is something extra. Some describe it as unreal and say it looks more like a coulisse. The number of seals has increased lately and it is not rare that we see the head of a curios seal above the water. In the sky there are a lot of different birds and the biggest one is the sea eagle. More than two meters between the tip of its wings the feeling is majestic when you see them passing over the top of the mast. This afternoon we aim for a wooden fired sauna. It is run by the nonprofit organization called Skärgårdsstiftelsen, the organization that owns more than 70% of the archipelago and its share grows by donations and heritages. You chop your own wood and lite the fire yourself.
Day eight Nämdö to the center of Stockholm Coming closer to Stockholm we use the only passage that the big ferries visiting Stockholm can use, Oxdjupet. It is very narrow and tricky for the big ships to pass but for us it is a perfect sailing route. Hundreds of years ago the people in Stockholm filled up the passage to guarantee that no one could pass and it stayed closed for more than hundred years. Next sight will be the contour of the highest buildings in the center of Stockholm, the City Hall where the Nobel dinner is served, the arena the Globe for concerts and the Old Town with houses many hundred years old. The grand finale of our trip will be when we sail all the way into the Old Town and you will leave S/Y Ichiban on the stairs just in front of the Royal Castle.
Price list One-day sailing trip Two-day sailing trip Three-day sailing trip One-Week sailing trip 3,900 Euro (plus 6% VAT) 6,400 Euro (plus 6% VAT) 8,900 Euro (plus 6% VAT) 18,500 Euro (plus 6% VAT) Full board per person and day Very high standard High Standard 120 Euro (plus 12% VAT) 89 Euro (plus 12% VAT)